GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Buyer Takes Timbercreek Apartments for Retail Redevelopment

DALLAS-Timbercreek Apartments, a 1,083-unit complex in a prime Dallas location, will be torn down and replaced by a shopping plaza now that a Trammell Crow affiliate has purchased the property from Chicago-based Alliance Holdings.Michael Lewis with Hendricks and Partners, in Dallas, who helped broker the deal, tells GlobeSt.com that TC Timberlake Associates won ownership of the class C complex with a high bid offer, beating out nine other bidders ranging from multifamily owners to developers."It was very competitive," he says of the hotly contested site which sits about one mile from the Central Expressway near the upscale North Park Mall. Interest in the complex was intense, Lewis says, because of the property's location and its prime highway frontage. "The location is ground zero. It's right in the heart of it all," he notes.The sale price on the 43-acre complex, which is situated at 6001 Skillman St. and Northwest Highway Loop 12, was not disclosed but Lewis says acquisition and development costs for the retail project are expected to top $50 million."This is good news for the area," says Lewis, noting that the site is part of the city's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and was marked for redevelopment. Demolition of the complex, which was built in the 1970s, is expected to begin in about nine months once all existing leases on the property expire.The complex is currently about 80 % leased. The plaza, which is expected to bring at least 150,000 sf of multi-tenant retail space to the area, should begin in late 2006 and be completed in 18 months, he says.Lewis, who handled the transaction for both parties, was assisted in the negotiations by Russ Williams with the Trammell Crow Co. in Dallas. Williams could not be reached for comment.